A Story That Hasn't Been Written
by PwoperlySHERlocked
Summary: What if the antidote hadn't worked on Merlin in 'The Poisoned Chalice? What if he didn't wake up in time to save Arthur from himself? Sort of a Romeo and Juliet version of it... Sort of... Crap summary. The story is better, I promise.


A/N: Okay! So I made this fic... based on a video I saw on YouTube by Monica6Reyes... It kind of inspired this little thing.. Although, I'm not so sure if LITTLE is the word.. lol So, basically, this is kind of similar to Romeo and Juliet, but I don't think its as over used... Uhm so the antidote didn't work on Merlin... right away... how does Arthrur react? So...ya. Hope you enjoy!

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own any of the characters... or the plot... I just take them and play with them a little bit.. So yeah.. I DO NOT OWN ANYTHING!**

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A Story That Hasn't Been Written

Arthur had just returned from getting the Mortaeus flower, when he was stopped by guards and arrested. Now, sitting alone in his cell, he began to think about Merlin. That blundering idiot of a manservant… who risked his own life in order to save Arthur. He didn't know what it was about his new servant – and he really was terrible – but he couldn't let him die on his behalf.

He was brought out of his thoughts by the sound of his cell being unlocked, and as the door screeched open, he looked up to see his father glaring at him. Arthur stood up.

"You disobeyed me." Uther said, anger spilling through his teeth.

"Of course I did, a man's life is at stake." He reeled back, but he wasn't sure if that was strong enough to convince his father. So he added, "Do not let Merlin die because of something I did."

"Why do you care so much? The boy is just a servant." His father said, anger mixing with confusion.

"He knew the danger he was putting himself in, and he knew what would happen if he drank from that goblet, but he did it anyway. He saved my life." He shouted at his father. He was going to do whatever it took to make his father see sense. He paused. " There's more. There was a woman at the mountain. She knew I was there for the flower. I don't think it was Bayard who tried to poison me." He added this to try and make amends towards the probable broken treaty. Merlin's life wasn't the only thing at stake.

"Of course it was." Uther replied, not even taking a moment to consider what his son had said.

'_Oh well, I tried.'_ Arthur thought, but suddenly he remembered the most important issue at hand, and he pulled out the flower that he had risked everything to get.

"Gaius knows what to do with it." He said, handing it to his father. Noticing the uncertainty written on Uther's face as he took the flower, he added, "Put me in the stocks for a week, a month even, I don't care. Just make sure it gets to him. I'm begging you." He waited for a moment, trying to read his father's facial expressions. It almost looked as if his father was going to help as he turned away from him. But then he turned back around and crushed the flower in his fist.

"NO!" Arthur yelled, suddenly feeling dizzy as anger and despair rushed through his body.

Uther spoke with soft traces of regret in his dangerously low voice. "You have to learn there's a right and a wrong way of doing things. I'll see you're let out in a week." He paused as he walked out of Arthur's cell. "Then you can find yourself another servant."

Arthur watched as his father dropped the crushed flower on the ground, just outside the door of his cell. '_Wait.'_ He thought. '_Maybe if I could just… reach it.. maybe…'_ And so started his struggle to reach the most important flower he had ever come across. The flower that was just outside his reach.

**~()~()~()~**

"He hasn't got much longer. Has Arthur got the flower?" Gaius asked, looking up from his ward, which lay on the patient's table in the main room, to see Gwen walking in, flustered.

"I don't know. Uther won't allow anyone to see him." She explained, obviously frustrated by the matter. "Is there nothing we can do to help?" She asked, looking to Merlin.

"Only the leaf of the Mortaeus flower can save him." Gaius replied solemnly.

Gwen sighed. "And we have to find out if Arthur has it." She paused, an idea coming to her. "I could sneak into the dungeon." She looked back to Gaius as for confirmation.

"That would be very dangerous." He said, facing towards her again.

"I've got to." She said, trying to reason with him. "Merlin will die if I don't."

Realizing the hopelessness of the situation as Merlin struggled with such a simple task as breathing, Gaius agreed. "Be careful." He said. And he watched her leave as he turned back to his dying ward.

**~()~()~()~**

Arthur sat in his cell, wondering how he was going to get the flower to Merlin, if he couldn't even leave. Perhaps, he could persuade one of the guards to bring it to Gaius. But could he trust them? He apparently couldn't even trust his own father. But then how?

He was about to give up, when he heard Gwen's voice mumble "Food for the prisoner."

Gwen! He had never heard a voice so beautiful before, in his entire life! This was his chance! Because if Gwen was here, then that meant she was trying to get the flower! Oh glorious day!

He struggled to contain his excitement as he saw Gwen step into frame carrying a tray. The guard unlocked the door and she stepped inside. "Set it down over there." He said, motioning to a small table on the other side of the room.

He watched as she set the tray on the table and she took a step back. He supposed it was a sign – maybe a question as to whether he had gotten the flower or not.

"Thank you." He said as he picked up the tray. As Gwen turned to leave, he stopped her. " Wait a minute." He quickly placed the flower on the tray and put it back on the table. "I couldn't possibly eat this, it's disgusting." He said while walking back to where he was previously seated. "The state it's in, I'm not sure it's fit for anyone." He added. Which was true – not even _Mer_lin would serve him something as plain as the meal she gave him – but he hoped she understood what it was that he was really saying.

Gwen slowly made her way back to the table, and Arthur couldn't help but notice that she looked a little annoyed before smiling to herself when she saw the flower on the tray. She and the guard left, and he was a little frustrated when he heard a guard stop her, and he could hear the muffled traces of a conversation and laughter.

The he heard the guard shout "Stay where you are!" and then the clanging of metal on stone, and he internally shouted, '_Run!_' and he hoped that Guinevere could make it to Gaius in time.

**~()~()~()~**

Gaius was pacing around his small room when Gwen came running in. "How is he?" She asked.

He decided to ignore her question, as he was sure that the answer was obvious. "Have you got the Mortaeus?" He asked, instead.

"Here." She said, handing him the tiny flower.

"His breathing's much worse. We have to hurry." He said, beginning to crush the flower leaf in a bowl as he watched Gwen sit down next to a silent Merlin. Then he stopped, with a thought occurring to him.

"Why have you stopped?" Gwen's voice was shrill and coated with worry.

Gaius hesitated. "The poison was creating using magic. We may need magic to make an antidote." He explained.

"But we can't. It's forbidden. Even if we could." Gwen said as she turned back to Merlin.

"I'll try and make it work without it." He said, deciding he was going to have to get rid of her for a moment. "Oh, I need some fresh water." He said, handing her a small glass vial, he followed her almost out of the door before stopping at his table.

He raises the small bowl in the air and starts, "Sythan…" he pauses and looks around, nervous to be practicing magic again and almost out in the open. But he decides it's for the best because it's for Merlin, and starts again. "Sythan arrest wearth feasceaft funden. Denum æfter dome. Dreamleas gebad he gewinnes longsum." The potion sizzles for a moment and Gwen chooses that moment to run back in and she hands him the vial and he pours the potion into it. "Thank you." He says before hurrying to Merlin.

"Hold his nose." He commanded. He waits until Gwen pinches Merlin's nose and immediately he opens his mouth for air. "Swallow, Merlin. Swallow it." He says to himself.

Together, they watch as merlin reacts to the potion, before settling down and staying completely still. "He's stopped breathing." Gwen said quietly. "What's happening? Gaius?" She asked, looking to Gaius for an explanation.

She watched as Gaius lowered his head to Merlin's chest, before sitting up and backing away in surprise. "His heart has stopped." He managed to say to her.

"He's dead?" She asked, the question not quite sounding like one.

"He can't be." He said in disbelief. "He can't be. It wasn't his destiny." He said, staring at Merlin's lifeless form.

"It's my fault." Gwen exclaimed, standing up. "If I'd have got here sooner. If I'd have been quicker." She shook her head and cried, into Gaius's open arms.

"No, no it was me. I should've looked after him better." He said. "Someone needs to inform Arthur."

She looked up at him and backed away. Shaking her head slowly. "I'll do that." She said quietly, before leaving.

**~()~()~()~**

Arthur sat up straight from his slouched position in his cell when he heard a deep voice speaking to one of the guards outside. He saw his father come into view and he stood up, waiting to be scolded because Merlin was alive and well. But he had not expected his father to tell him what he did.

"I'm sorry, Arthur. I know you cared for the boy." Uther said, hands behind his back, and he looked up into the face of his son.

"Father?" Arthur asked. He wasn't quite sure where his father was taking this conversation, but he was almost positive that he wasn't going to like it.

"Merlin, your manservant, it seems that somehow Gaius obtained the Mortaeus flower…" Uther started, and Arthur sighed in relief at what he was hearing, and was about to apologize to his father, but then he looked up, and he could tell he wasn't done with whatever it was he was going to say. So he let him finish. "However," he continued. "he was not able to save the boy. I'm sorry Arthur, Merlin is dead. I will let you out as I am sure you wish to grieve, and then we must get started looking for a new manservant." Uther said, as he motioned for Arthur to leave the cell.

Arthur stayed where he was. He couldn't move. His heart was beating so loud that he was sure his father could hear it, if not the entire castle. He felt dizzy. Merlin was… dead? No. Not Merlin. Not that blundering fool of a manservant. Not the idiot who had risked his own life to save him. This couldn't be happening.

He forced his legs to move, and was sure they were because he could feel the room moving around him, but he couldn't actually feel them. He couldn't feel _anything_. And all of a sudden, he had an urge to escape. And that's exactly what he did_._

He ran to Merlin as fast as he could. He couldn't take his father's word for it. He had to make sure for himself. This had to be some sort of sick joke of his father's to get back at him for disobeying his orders.

Finally, he reached Gaius's quarters. He quickly, but quietly, ran up the steps to the old physicians room and burst through the door, looking for any sign that Merlin was okay.

"Sire…" Gaius started, but fell quiet when he saw the prince had found Merlin.

"Merlin." Arthur whispered. He carefully reached for his manservant's hand as he studied his lifeless form laying on the cot. His face was pale and drenched with sweat, and his hand was already cold to the touch.

Arthur stood there for a moment before softly ordering Gaius, "Out."

"Sire…?" Gaius asked, astonished.

"I said, out. I would like a moment alone, please." He explained. He slowly turned to Gaius, who upon seeing the prince was distraught, decided it was for the best to leave him alone with the dead boy.

Once Gaius had left, Arthur turned back to Merlin before sitting down next to the seemingly sleeping boy. He held his hand in his own and rested his chin upon them.

His father had done this to Merlin. He had killed him – let him die – just to teach his son a lesson. Merlin had died because Arthur had tried to save him, and his father crushed the flower to teach him a lesson. '_I've learned lesson, father.'_ He thought.

"It's time you learned yours." And with that he stood up and began looking through Gaius's shelves, for something special. Then he found it. A bottle labeled, _"POISON"_. This was exactly what he was looking for.

He was going to teach his father a lesson about trying to teach Arthur a lesson. Slowly, Arthur walked to Merlin, bottle in hand. He sat down and with one hand he took Merlin's cold hand in his, and with the other, he lifted the bottle of poison to his mouth.

And with one last look at Merlin, he put the poison to his lips.

At that moment, two things happened: Merlin took the deepest breath Arthur had ever seen anyone take, and Arthur dropped the bottle of poison on the ground.

"A-Arthur…?" He asked, panting.

Arthur smiled at Merlin, tears filling his eyes but not caring enough about them to wipe them away, and said, "Still alive, then?"

"Oh. Yeah, just about. I understand I have you to thank for that." Merlin said. He was going to ask what it was that Arthur dropped, but we was cut off before he could even begin to speak.

"Yeah, well, it was nothing. A half decent servant is hard to come by. I was only dropping by to make sure you're alright." He paused, trying to hide the relief in his voice. "I expect you to be back to work tomorrow." He said.

"Oh yeah, yeah of course." Merlin paused, thinking. "Bright and early." He added, looking at Arthur as he turned to leave.

"Arthur. Thank you." He said to his prince, who had stopped at the sound of Merlin's voice.

Arthur was silent for a moment. "You too." _'You saved my life, again, Merlin.'_ he thought.

"Get some rest." He said, before adding, "Now I better let Gaius know you're not dead anymore." And then he left.

Merlin let what Arthur said sink in.

"Wait, what?" He asked quickly. He had died? "Arthur!"

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**So? What'd ya think? Did you like? Did you not like? Feel free to review, and let me know what you thought! Personally, I'm actually very proud of this one... And in case it wasn't clear to anyone, Arthur dropped the poison before he could drink it... So.. yeah, I couldn't think of how to end it... That's where I kind of suck... I can't start or end a story, but I'm pretty good in the middle of it! Lol, So! Review, please! Even if you didn't like it! Please and thank you! XD**

Oh, one more thing. If anyone has any requests or prompts they would like to give me, then please feel free to do so! I'll write just about anything, if you ask nicely..! :)


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